Simians may go to war with homo sapiens in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” but at the box office they battled “Transformers”—and won. Fox’s 3-D sequel grossed an estimated $73.0 million upon its debut this weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, helping summer ticket sales recover somewhat after a dispiriting July 4 weekend.

Riding a tide of goodwill from the well-liked “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Dawn” improved upon its 2011 predecessor’s $54.8 million debut by a third, with 36 percent of ticket sales coming from premium-priced 3-D screenings—an option the previous film didn’t offer. Ticket holders were 58 percent male and 55 percent over 25 who gave it a promising A- grade from CinemaScore.

The blockbuster opening pushed 20th Century Fox over $1 billion at the domestic box office. With a lineup that has included “X-Men: Days of Future Past” ($228.1 million), “Rio 2” ($129.2 million) and “The Fault in Our Stars” ($118.1 million), as well as a couple of DreamWorks Animation titles—“How to Train Your Dragon 2” ($146.2 million) and “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” ($111.2 million)—the studio was the first to hit 10 figures this year and reached the milestone faster than ever before.

Meanwhile, man, did “Boyhood” have a good weekend. Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making drama raised $359,000 from just five theaters in Los Angeles and New York for a $71,800 per-location average. By comparison, that’s almost four times “Apes’” average of $18,402. The stellar start marked the second-highest per-screen average so far this year behind “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

Receipts are still being tallied, but overall the weekend saw about $148.9 million in ticket sales, down 24 percent from the same time frame last year, when “Despicable Me 2” and “Grown Ups 2” both grossed more than $40 million, and “Pacific Rim” made another $37.3 million. Still, after the Fourth of July’s 42 percent plunge last weekend, “Apes’” monster opening helped slow the bleeding summer box office to 18 percent.

Here are the top 10 movies at the box office July 11-13, 2014, according to Box Office Mojo:

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (Fox): $73.0 million/total: $73.0 million

“Transformers: Age of Extinction” (Paramount): $16.5 million/total: $209.0 million